PETROLEUM — FIELD 253 



find ready markets. AUyl alcohol and chloride will doubtless find 

 many other uses in chemical synthesis. 



Some time ago a chemical company announced a resin produced 

 from the monomer vinylidene chloride which is a derivative of eth- 

 ylene and is therefore of interest to the petroleum industry. It differs 

 from the older vinyl chloride monomer in that two chloi-ine atoms 

 have been substituted for hydrogen atoms in the ethylene molecule 

 instead of one. This plastic is very tough and resistant to solvents, 

 has a very high tensile strength and can be made into strong filaments. 

 Taking advantage of these properties, expected uses include seat cov- 

 ers, filter cloths, house screening, fishing lines, hose connections, and 

 liexi^ble tubing. 



Older resins which are derived at least in part from petroleum and 

 were greatly expanded for war uses are the polyvinyl resins, acrylic 

 resins (Lucite and Plexiglass) , ethylcellulose, and phenolics employ- 

 ing alkylated phenols. 



Among important chemicals newly derived from petroleum and 

 announced during the war is phthalic anhydride, produced by oxi- 

 dizing orthoxylene (previous production has been from naphthalene 

 from coal tar) . One petroleum company has built a plant to manu- 

 facture this chemical which is used in the synthesis of plastics, plasti- 

 cizers, and insect repellents. Another company has announced a new 

 synthesis of carbon bisulfide from methane and sulfur. This chemical 

 is used in the manufacture of viscose rayon, solvent extraction proc- 

 esses, and in the manufacture of chemicals used in ore separation and 

 for vulcanizing rubber. Its older synthesis was from coke and sulfur. 



DETERGENTS FROM PETROLEUM 



For many years both oil-soluble and water-soluble soaps have been 

 produced from petroleum mainly as byproducts from the treating of 

 oils for industrial or medicinal purposes. Just prior to the war a de- 

 mand arose for synthetic detergents or wetting agents which would 

 be superior to either the byproduct soaps or those made by saponi- 

 fication of fatty or vegetable oils. Research carried out in petroleum 

 laboratories resulted in development of processes for synthesizing such 

 detergents from petroleum hydrocarbons, and commercialization of 

 these processes was quite rapid. During the war all such production 

 was under allocation to such uses as incorporation in GI all-purpose 

 soap for use in all kinds of water, penicillin manufacture, and many 

 other critical uses. Since the war, requirements have increased largely 

 through the use in industrial and household cleansers. In addition, 

 many of the products have been improved by utilizing plant facilities 

 and processes developed for aviation-gasoline or toluene manufacture. 

 The petroleum soap of today is a complicated chemical synthetic 



